European finance ministers back EU-IMF bailout for Portugal

BRUSSELS: European finance ministers on Monday backed a three-year 78-billion-euro EU-IMF bailout for Portugal on condition Lisbon embarks on a major raft of public sell-offs. The ministers agreed unanimously to rescue Portugal, a statement said, making it the third eurozone country in the space of one year to receive a multi-billion-euro bailout after Greece and Ireland. The emergency loans to Lisbon are "warranted to safeguard the financial stability in the euro area and the EU as a whole," said the statement by ministers from the 17-nation eurozone and the remaining 10 European Union states that partly underwrite the emergency financial assistance. The decision on Portugal was made during two-day talks otherwise focused on measures to ease the terms of Greece's repayment burden. Portugal, under pressure from the markets for months, finally sought a bailout in April afte...